


Status Quo

by RatBrainz



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Anyways, Cuddling & Snuggling, Existentialism, Gen, ZADF, ai dungeon did its best, could be zadr if you wanted, if it sounds weird at some parts. thats bcs it is. it was written with ai dungeon, its also published on ai dungeon if you wanna go look for it, kindve dragged out but thats okay, that dungeon is funky by the way yall should try it, thats the most important tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28168302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RatBrainz/pseuds/RatBrainz
Summary: Zim and Dib break the cycle, just for a night.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Status Quo

You are Zim. You have no last name, as your species has no need for them. You do however, have a ranking. Invader. And what a glorious invader you are! Or, so you think, anyways. You actually kind of suck at invading, but you won't let yourself know that. Currently, you are battling your worst nemesis, Dib. He is a stupid human with a big head, and by god do you hate him so much. You charge at him, claws preparing to scratch his soft flesh when he suddenly stops you in your tracks.

"Zim, stop right there!" He says. "I am not here to fight you." His voice sounds very serious, almost like it's from behind a mask.  
You snarl, glaring at him sharply. It's unlike Dib to stop in the middle of battle, or stopping the battle at all. You reluctantly stop in your tracks, raising a nonexistent eyebrow at him. "What do you want, Dibthing?"

He shrugs, taking a step back. "Just wanted to talk about something important." He begins walking towards one of the trees, before turning around and looking directly at you.  
"You want to... Talk?" Dib had never brought up the proposition before. Just talking normally was a completely unknown thing to you two, having always fought for your separate beliefs. You don't know what compels you, but, you decide to listen to him. "Alright, Zim. Do you remember the first time we met?"  
You sneer at the memory. He had tried to expose you as an alien and ruin your mission in front of your human classmates, and the two of you hadn't stopped fighting for the destruction or protection of Earth since. You despise the memory, and really wish you hadn't met Dib in the first place. "Maybe I do." You say, cautiously.  
"Good. So do I." He smiles, taking a step forward. "I think it's time we stop fighting each other."  
Every word out of his mouth made you more suspicious. Dib would never give up fighting you, and neither would you. You didn't know what that had to do with your first meeting either. "Has your brain finally exploded? What is wrong with you Dib?" What was he planning?  
"Nothing. Everything. Listen to me, Zim." He takes another step forward.  
Your antenna twitched, and you fought the urge to step back. "I'm starting to think I should just kill you now while you're still vulnerable." But you stand there motionless anyways, not making any attempt to be aggressive.  
Dib takes a few more steps forward, to the point where he's just in your personal space. You could strike at him right now, or you could continue to hear him out.  
And despite everything telling you to strike him down there and be done with this nonsense, you continue to stay put and look up at the human. You do not attack. You do not threaten. It's very strange, coming from you.  
"Zim, I know you're still mad at me, but we've gotta stop fighting. We were both right and we were both wrong. We're just... Two really different types of bad guys."  
"I'm never wrong!" You shout, nearly headbutting him with how close you are. "I'm here because taking over Earth is my mission, and you're the only thing in my way!" Your antennae quiver with anger and pride, defaulting to your false sense of perfection, the only normal thing going on.  
He doesn't flinch. "I know, and I wouldn't want it any other way. You're a really great enemy." He grins. "But you're also a really, really great friend."  
The two of you stand there, staring at each other. You prepare to strike, but he doesn't back down. Slowly, his hand lifts up...  
It would be so easy to end him right now. He was the one opposing you. He was the one that caused all this trouble in the first place. He was the enemy.  
But you don't.  
You just let it drop. "Alright."  
You don't know why you said that. Quite frankly, you hated the idea, and you would probably continue fighting anyways, even if not today. Dib was not your friend, and you were not his. You couldn't recount any time where the two of you were friendly to eachother. And still... And still you stopped. You don't know what it meant. If the two of you stopped fighting, who gave up? Your missions could never coexist. You wanted to conquer Earth. Dib wanted to protect it. He always did. He wasn't one to just surrender, was he?  
You didn't know. You didn't care. It was something you said to buy time, to continue staring at him. The two of you were going to be enemies again, and that's okay too.  
That was normal, that was how things were supposed to be. You and Dib, mortal nemeses to the core. You weren't meant to be friends. You weren't meant to stop battling. Whatever now is, it won't last. You wonder if he knew that too.  
"Zim," he says, and again you have to stop yourself from smashing your fist into his face. Again, he doesn't flinch.  
You try to ignore him, at first, and begin turning away. But again, you stop. "What do you want now? You got your truce. Don't expect me to suddenly surrender your wretched planet to you." You hiss. You're getting tired of that soft, cautious voice. Like he knows you're a second away from tearing him to shreds, but continues to try anyways.  
"No, I don't expect that," he says. "But... Can't you at least talk a little bit? Just... Say a few words? It's been awhile."  
You scoff.  
"You've bothered me enough, Dib." Really, you think you did want to talk to him. To find out why he was so keen on not fighting you, on being friends. But you also just want to go back to your base, somewhere familiar, unlike this entire situation. Gir and Minimoose would be the same, loyal minions they've always been. They wouldn't be trying to uproot everything you've ever known with them.  
"Just go, Dib. You've said your piece. I'm not interested in whatever games you're trying to play."  
"Zim..."  
You were really starting to get tired of hearing him say your name like that. That soft way in which your name should never be said. You were the great and mighty invader Zim, not the quiet, longing word that came from Dib's mouth. You kept walking. He kept following.  
"Zim, wait!" Dib shouted. You stopped, but you didn't turn around. "Can we just talk for a moment?"  
You wanted to tell him to go to hell.  
Dib's voice sounded so... broken.  
You wanted to tell him to get lost.  
Dib's voice sounded so... lonely.  
You wanted to tell him that you would crush him under your foot and eat his flesh.  
"Talking isn't a thing we do, Dib. It's bad enough you've ruined my plans for today." Your plans to conquer his planet and everything he's ever known, just like your leaders told you to do. Plans that Dib was always excited to ruin, but today he just... Didn't seem to care. Like he was just too tired to keep fighting. Figures. Humans are weak like that. Whatever did this to him, you would destroy. Just so things could be normal again.  
"Just one minute, Zim. Please?" He sounded so pathetic right now. You wanted to tell him to go die.  
But you didn't.  
You just...  
Well, you wanted to do a lot of things. You didn't do a lot of things. Things that, any other day, you would've done in a heartbeat. You don't say anything, previously excited and bloodthirsty mood ruined just like your plans. You let him follow you back to your base. It was a quiet walk. One that would've been filled with threats and insults, but was instead replaced by silence.  
Whatever sadness disease plagued Dib, it seemed to be leaking into you, too. Sadness was a useless emotion to you, and you smeared it with anger at how easily the human's emotions affected you. When the two of you arrived at your base, Gir greeted you excitedly, clinging to your leg. You didn't feel like telling him to get off and go away. Minimoose tilted his head at the sight of you and Dib, just as confused as you were at the situation. You sat down on the couch, and Dib sat beside you. It was silent for a moment.  
"So, Zim," Dib began, "Why? I don't understand. Why do you guys want to conquer Earth?"  
You scowled in distain.  
"Just because I let you in here, doesn't mean I want to have a chat with you." Human conversations are so boring, their squeaky voices are so annoying. Besides, the answer was obvious. Your leaders wanted more territory for the Empire, and you would do anything your Tallest told you to. Even if they didn't have a reason, you would've destroyed the measly dirtball of a planet anyways. Dib wordlessly slinks back so he could think up something, and you continue sitting.  
You're waiting for him to do so.  
"So..."  
You snap at him again, hissing lowly under your breath. You swear if he speaks again you will have his head on a pike. However, he listens to you this time.  
"Sorry," He said sheepishly.  
"You should be." You rest your head back on the couch arm, antenna flicking absentmindedly. It wasn't often that you took a break, considering your species had no need for sleeping. It was tempting to make another plan, to destroy Earth while Dib didn't feel like fighting. So you could win. So you could get him to be your enemy again. But maybe you, too, are tired.  
If you were being honest with yourself for once, the two of you had been at eachother's throats for a very long time at that point. He had gotten taller, features smoothened out and grown into. Older, it seemed. You, however, stayed the height you were the first time you'd met him. And you would stay that way for thousands of years. But Dib... Dib was a human. They aged, they weakened. How old was he now? No more than just eighteen Earth years, surely. The two of you just sat, in tired silence. The cycle of violence was broken, even if it was probably temporary.  
"Dib?" You ask, finally addressing him.  
"Y-Yes?" He replies, looking at you.  
"Why?"  
He furrowed his eyebrows.  
"Why what?  
"Why are you still here?" It's not what you wanted to ask, but you couldn't force the words out of your throat.  
"Ah..." He scratches at his head. "I don't know. I have no place else to go."  
An awkward moment of silence consumes the both of you.  
Was that it then? Had something happened to his human family? You could never wrap your head around the idea of a family, even with how brilliant you were. The idea itself was stupid anyways. Or maybe... Something had happened to Dib. He changed. Maybe he'd been changing for a while now.  
And maybe you've been changing too, whether you wanted to acknowledge it or not. You were less shouty, less narcissistic, kinder to your minions, you were kinder to Dib of all people. And you were tired. You were both tired.  
It's been a long time, hasn't it? Every day rushed by with excitement as you and Dib fought, protector versus destroyer, but now it slowed down, and he was the first to realize it. Your leaders hadn't bothered to check up on you in a long time, had they? How long had this gone on for? You are so, very tired. You let him move closer to you.  
"You... You are a whole lot less scary now," He whispered to you, half chuckling and reaching up to poke at one of your antennae.  
You hiss at him, but do not otherwise move away.  
"I could kill you in the blink of an eye." Dib doesn't take back his words. You both know you won't.  
"Doesn't change the fact that I want to be your friend." He says, more to himself than to you.  
You never really understood the concept of friendship. It seemed worthless, when the collective of the Empire was more important. When your own glory was more important, really. "What could you even offer to me?" You huff. Dib laughs a little at that, like he knows something you don't. "Friendship isn't about what people can offer to you, Zim." He says, like he understands humanity any better than you do. "It's about what people can offer to each other. I can offer you nothing, and you can offer me nothing. Except company. That's a good thing. "  
You snort.  
"Don't talk like you know so much about human company." He flinches at that, but nods his head. You were opposites like that. You could blend in with humanity, and Dib couldn't, even if he himself was a human. "Fair enough. Let's just stay here, okay?" He looks down at you with those disgustingly sad eyes. "Just... Just for tonight." He looks back away, leaning against you. You growl, deep in your chest, but Dib doesn't seem any less intent on getting cozy with you, despite your protests. "Zim, please." It's like he's begging, and not for the first time. You consider it. He sounds sincere.  
You consider it, and you are tired. So very tired.  
Irkens don't need sleep, and you're unsure if you are even capable of the action, but you let the human hold you closer as he deals with the unnecessary function himself. Your Pak whirrs quietly, almost as quiet as the human's soft breath.  
Time passes, as it always does. Seconds become minutes, minutes become hours. You allow yourself to shut down. Things will be the same as they always were tomorrow. You will try to take over Earth, and Dib will stop you. That's how it was, and always will be.  
But for one night, you rested.


End file.
